Persian MS 901 (The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)
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Persian Manuscripts
Contents
Summary of Contents: The first of two volumes, together with Persian MS 902 of the Mirʼāt-i Aḥmadī (Mirror of Aḥmad), a history of Gujarat. Aḥmad Shāh Durranī appointed the author minister of the province in 1747, in his first year of his reign. The text first concisely treats the rule of the Hindu kings, then recounts events spanning the invasion of Maḥmūd of Ghazna in 1025 to the Battle of Panipat in 1761 in which Aḥmad Shāh defeated the Marathas. An unidentified scribe originally completed both volumes as a single manuscript on 7 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1195 AH (24 November 1781 CE) for Charles Warre Malet Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815) while serving as British Resident of Cambay (Kambhat), Gujarat.Author: Alī Muḥammad Khān علی محمد خانTitle: Mirʼāt-i AḥmadīTitle: Tārīkh-i GujarātTitle: مرآه احمدیTitle: تاريخ گجراتIncipit: (basmala) برگ ۱پ (folio 1b): فهرس نسخه دفتر حمد مالک الملکی که نصب و عزل فرمانروایان هفت اقلیم والیان تخت و دیهیم و اورنگ نشينان کجکلاه و خواقین با فرد جاه و مرزبانان اطراف و دنیا داران اكناف بكف اختیار و قبضه اقتدار اوست به هر کهExplicit: برگ ۳۵۴پ (folio 354b): و گفت و شنید چگونگی یورش بمان آورد . دلادران و کرد نگشان طرفین هر یک بقدر و مفدار تهور وجلادت خوش رای زد و آحر رایها بران قرار یافت که جمعی از ها در آن اسلام و شجعان یا نیک و نام یا قایم علیخان بخشی...Colophon: Colophon on Persian MS 902, folio 702a.Language(s): PersianPhysical Description
Form: codexSupport: Textblock of thin-weight, cross-grained, heavily flocked, externally sized and highly polished, cream-coloured paper, probably handmade in the Cambay (Kambhat), Gujarat, with ~14 laid lines per 20 mm, no discernible chain lines and average thickness of 107 microns.Extent: 354 folios, 6 flyleaves (ff. iii + 354 + iii).Dimensions (leaf): 296 × 175 × 0.107 mm.Dimensions (written): 215 × 112 mm.Foliation: Hindu-Arabic numerals added to the upper-left corners of the a sides throughout, which continue in Persian MS 902, followed for this record.Collation
Undetermined. Catchwords throughout most of the lower-left corners of the b sides.Condition
In good condition, with moderate water damage and staining.Layout
Written in 1 column with 17 lines per page. Ruled with a misṭarah hand guide.
Hand(s)
Written in clear black nasta‘līq with red subheaders.
Decoration
Illumination: Folio 1b bears a scalloped domed headpiece with floriate scrollwork on a gilt ground above an cloud band with a basmala, flanked be medallions and cartouches above and below, and surmounted with 11 radiating lines above.
150 × 122 mm.Ruling: Text margins of folios 1b and 2a ruled in gold outlined with thin single interior and double exterior black lines, surrounded by single red and blue lines. The margins of folios 2b onwards ruled with double red surrounded by single blue lines.
Additions:
Inscriptions: Folio 1a bears a description of the volume written in naskh, adjecent to Malet's seal impressions.
Bookplate and label: the left paste-down bears the ‘Bibliotheca Lindesiana’ bookplate with shelf mark ‘1/C’, and label with class mark ‘Additional MSS Persian 107–108’ with the numbers crossed out and ‘901’ written aside.Seal(s):Binding
Probably uniformly rebound together with Persian MS 902 in a modern British style, probably completed for Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899) on behalf of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880), with a table of contents appended to the end of this volume.
Resewn on five recessed cords laced into pasteboards. Edges trimmed and gilt, with front-bead decorative endbands of white and red threads stitched over flat cores twined at head and tail. Covered in full morocco-grained goatskin leather with a truncated flap (Type II binding per Déroche), with predminantly brown 'shell' patterned marbled endpapers, with blue, red, green, and ochre veins
Board margins blind-tooled with think-and-thin fillets, with the same palleted at head and tail of the spine and interior dentelles. Spine titled:
‘MIRÁT-I
AHMADÍ
I
PERSIAN MS.
A. H. 1195’.307 × 194 × 61 mm.
Binding in good condition with abrasion at the board edges and spine faded.
A small, legible black rectangular seal impression with two stacked thuluth lines with the name of Charles Warre Malet, single-ruled, and dated 1196 AH (1781–1782 CE) appears twice on folio 1a and once on 354b:
‘چارس وار مالت ۱۱۹۶’
11 × 15 mm.Accompanying Material
Table of Contents written on six folios stiched onto a hinge appears at the end of the volume.
History
Origin: Completed for Charles Warre Malet Sir Charles Warre Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815), probably in Cambay (Kambhat), Gujarat 7 Ẕī-al-Ḥijjah 1195 AH (24 November 1781 CE) as per the colophon in Persian MS 902, folio 702a.Provenance and Acquisition
Thereafter obtained from an unidentified source by London bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819–1899), who then advertized it in his Feb. 1876 catalogue, no. 11584, then sold to Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford (1812–1880) for 12 pounds and sent to the Bibliotheca Lindesiana at Haigh Hall, Wigan.
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford (1847–1913).
Bequeathed by Enriqueta Rylands (1843–1908) in 1908 to the John Rylands Library, Manchester.
Record Sources
Bibliographical description based on an index created by Reza Navabpour circa 1993, derived from a manuscript catalogue by Michael Kerney, circa 1890s, concisely published as Bibliotheca Lindesiana, Hand-list of Oriental Manuscripts: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, 1898.
Manuscript description by Jake Benson in 2025 with reference to the volume in hand.
Availability
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Bibliography
B. Quaritch, A New Catalogue of English Books Followed by the General Library of te late Jesse Watts-Russell, Esq. of Ilam Hall, Satffordshire, Forming a Supplement to those Advertised in the General Catalogue for 1874 (London: B. Quaritch, Feb. 1876), p. 897, no. 11584.Funding of Cataloguing
Iran Heritage Foundation
The John Rylands Research Institute
The Soudavar Memorial Foundation
Subjects
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